Risky Warm-up

We are just over a year out from the 2019 Rugby World Cup and England, Ireland and Wales have been announcing their warm-up matches. To my memory, recent World Cups have usually seen teams have 3 warm-up matches, but this time England, Ireland and Wales have announced they will be playing 4 matches each:

Ireland v Italy – 10/8/19
England v Wales 11/8/19
Wales v England 17/8/19
England v Ireland 24/8/19
Wales v Ireland 31/8/19
Engand v Italy 6/9/19
Ireland v Wales 7/9/18

Now I’ve got to be honest, I am not a fan of the decision to play 4 matches. I understand that the players will need some warm-up matches to prepare following the summer, but to be playing 4 matches so close to the World Cup (Ireland and England play their first matches on 22/9/18, Wales a day later) is in my view very risky.

Assuming one of these teams reaches the final on 2/11/19, these teams will be playing 11 international matches in just under 3 months. Even though it does not have to be the same players involved in every match, the squad sizes mean that most players will be involved in the majority of matches, which will take a massive toll on them. There is also a very high chance that players will pick up injuries that could rule them out of the tournament. I can’t help but remember Morgan Stoddart’s broken leg against England in 2011 – an injury that ended his international career and caused him to retire from rugby having played just a few matches following his Scarlets return. Rugby is a contact sport and every time you take to the pitch you know there is a chance you will get injured, but if players do not go in with full commitment during these matches in an attempt to protect themselves for the tournament then they are more likely to do damage. Adding a fourth match just presents another chance for someone to get injured. Just imagine if Farrell or Sexton misses the World Cup courtesy of an injury picked up in one of these matches…

To me, this just feels like a chance for the unions to make a bit more money from ticket sales. Hopefully this is just me being a bit of a cynic and my worries come to nothing, but when these matches come around, I may have to watch them through my fingers.